SeanDietrich.com

JUST HANGING OUT
By Sean Dietrich

I am impressed more and more when I see that God hasn’t really used many sermons, books or tapes to push me deeper into him. He has used the wonderful relationships, and times of genuine fellowship with other brothers and sisters to drive me deeper into his breast.

Every day is something exciting for me now. Who will God put in my path, and what new friend will I meet today? How many doors will God open, and conversations will Jesus instigate?

SHARING A SERMON OR DINNER?

When I look back at some of the sermons I’ve heard, I can barely remember the names of the men who preached them. But when I look back at the times that I’ve hung out with the Father’s children, I can explicitly remember the genuine love we experienced together, and the lessons I’ve learned by being honest with one another. I see now what Paul was really saying when he told us not to “forsake the assembling of ourselves…” He didn’t mean gathering into a cathedral to be pew potatoes. He was reminding to hang out with one another so we won’t miss out on the good stuff!

When I think back at people who have really impacted me, I realize that it wasn’t pastors and elders who made a wave in my life at all. It was people that I grew to love, and people I spent quality time with. It was best friends and dear brothers that inspired me, and not persuasive speakers and television personalities. My most life-altering moments have occurred during pleasant conversations shared over a simple meal, rather than eloquent words spoken over an expensive sound system.

MAKE FRIENDS NOT SERMON NOTES

All of this reveals a great deal to me about the Christian life, and my new responsibilities. I can feel God urging me to be a friend and a brother to those who he puts in my way, rather than a mentor or an example. I don’t really want to be a teacher or a mentor anymore, but a peer and an ally. People can learn from Jesus and the Holy Spirit much better than they can learn from me anyway. The spiritual answers people are looking for aren’t found in bible studies and Sunday school lessons alone, they are found in real-life touchable human beings, who are friends and children of the Father. Friendship is what he will use to teach and guide people. Of course this means the glitz and glamour of “ordained-ministry” is exchanged for challenging and rugged relationships, and this isn’t always fun.

Jesus gave us the perfect example to follow, but sometimes we read his story with our religious-glasses on, and completely miss the heart of what he was really doing. The answers to the deeper Christian life have been Christian’s noses all along, but we’ve been too busy listening to teaching tapes to notice. The people Jesus impacted the most during his lifetime on earth, were those he built relationships with and loved as genuine friends. We are to love one another in the same ways that he loved.

FROM ALTAR CALLS TO PHONE CALLS

When my wife and I were in the last church we were in, we attended teaching meeting that were supposed to equip people, and we conducted altar calls intended to let God change people’s lives. Now days, my wife and I share dinners and conversations with brothers and sisters instead. We have made wonderful friends and learned from one another while we spend time together as friends. We talk on the phone. We get excited with each other, and we hurt with each other. We help one another out if there is a need, and we give freely to one another out of love. This is the Father’s way.

It’s relationships that have changed my wife and I from the very heart outward, not altar calls. In fact, real-life relationships have impacted my spiritual life in a deeper way than even I can understand. They have allowed me to see a broader picture of Jesus’ handiwork, and what he is doing in other people’s lives, as well as my own.

We’ve exchanged the arrogance that comes from being a “teacher,” with the tranquility of being a friend.

I love how Jesus was so real and honest with his friends. He ate, drank, slept and hung out with them. He didn’t hold anything back, but freely gave of himself. He was real with them, humble towards them, and a peer to them. A friend. I’m convinced that this is what changes lives and drives people deeper into the Father.

No pressure.

Just friendship.